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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2010

Harue Koga: The art of assimilating Western styles

The curse of early Western-style Japanese painters is the charge of derivativeness. Simply because they embraced foreign artistic idioms rather than their own indigenous artistic traditions, it is easy to dismiss them as mere copyists, "regurgitating" whatever it was they saw in the latest imported art...
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2010

Going home is such a bittersweet experience

TUCUMAN, Argentina — Coming home to my native Tucuman, a city in the north of Argentina, has become almost a ritual for me. And, predictably, it has its bittersweet moments.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 6, 2010

Morning mochi makes waves

Say ohaiyo gozaimasu to a new yet traditional meal: the Good Morning Breakfast Mochi.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Oct 6, 2010

Hiyakasu: Teasing finds easy target in first love

"Yukino! My big brother is in love with Yukino!" Little Kimika Keyes whoops with delight, which of course only throws Peter deeper into misery. Kimika is 10 and he's 14 — he should have the upper hand, but there is in her a bewildering mix of yōchi (幼稚, childishness) and seijuku (成熟, maturity)...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 3, 2010

India's expanding film industry boasts more than just Bollywood

Everyone knows Bollywood — the film industry centered in Mumbai (formerly called Bombay, hence the "B" in Bollywood) whose singing and dancing entertainments are shown throughout the country — and now the world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 3, 2010

Fukuoka: Designed for living

Inquiring as to the whereabouts of English-language bookstores in Fukuoka, the person at the Rainbow Plaza information center's desk straightaway handed me a printout of English listings, maps and directions. This, I began to realize, is a well organized city.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 3, 2010

Media racism: How unsportsmanlike

Local favoritism is built into organized sports. At the macro level you have whole countries rooting for national teams at the Olympics or the World Cup. At the micro level you have fans cheering a hometown boy who plays for a team far away. By the same token, nationalistic fans denigrate opposing countries'...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 2, 2010

You too can become a millionaire!

In the present economic downturn, you might feel you don't have much to look forward to financially. But I'm here to tell you — don't despair! You have a lot more money than you think you do. It's just a matter of finding it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 1, 2010

Japan's toilet business flush with success

Asia loves the Washlet. In fact, some people can't leave home without it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 1, 2010

The Australian Ballet, en pointe in Japan

After the death of the founder of Ballet Russes (Russian Ballet), Sergei Diaghilev, in 1929, the original company — which during its short history included esteemed dancers such as Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova and collaborators like Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky — dispersed to establish other...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010

All-grrrl DJ collective touts a twee life

Shibuya is not a pretty place. In fact, Tokyo's youth mecca can look downright grimy at times. But as with most eyesores, there are pockets of beauty and Sumire Taya owns one of them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010

For artist Tokumaru, music is but a dream

Shugo Tokumaru's music is a dream come true — literally.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2010

'El Topo'

A lot of times you'll see movies that a look a lot like all too many other movies you've seen before. Odd-couple buddy cops, one last heist, boy meets girl who hates him at first, the "chosen one" heroic quest, band of dysfunctional misfits who learn to pull together and triumph . . .
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 1, 2010

Find time in the 'Forests of Asoka'

Like many people, I have an instinctive suspicion of conceptual art, regarding its practitioners in the same league as politicians, lawyers and snake oil salesmen; namely, hot-air artists who rely too much on words to win us over to their dubious concepts. Art should effortlessly speak for itself, but...
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2010

The pope and the atheists

LONDON — The best defense is a good offense. A less worldly pope, making a state visit to Britain as the revelations about Catholic priests and bishops abusing the children in their care spread across Europe, might have been reduced to shame and silence. But Benedict XVI knows about the uses of power...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 29, 2010

Gallo convicted of killing Adenhart

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A jury convicted a construction worker of murder Monday for a drunken-driving crash that killed promising rookie Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 29, 2010

Japanese facility aimed at creating a sun on Earth

Outside a small town in Gifu Prefecture is a little-known scientific research establishment engaged in a project to "create a sun on the Earth." If successful, this venture will profoundly affect the lives of most people in the world.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2010

Harvest of summer heat

This summer's heat wave has taken its toll not just on humans, in a record number of heat stroke victims, but on Japanese plant life as well. A cosmos festival in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, has had to proceed without any cosmos, and the flowering of higanbana (red spider lily) is delayed. And with...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2010

Caught in the jaws of Japan's justice system

The Recruit scandal dominated the media in the late 1980s and has become a notorious symbol of money politics in Japan. The image of "government for sale" undermined public faith in politicians while raising questions about values in a society uncomfortable with the unbridled materialism associated with...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2010

Asia is surely gaining an unquenchable thirst

G. Kallupatti is a small village in the Theni District of western Tamil Nadu, tucked up against the rocky foothills of the Western Ghats in southern India.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 26, 2010

Moving pictures of Shibamata

I change trains three times before boarding one of Tokyo's shortest lines, the 2.5-km Keisei Kanamachi. I'm bound for Shibamata, which isn't precisely a backstreet, but it's tucked so far from most major thoroughfares in the back-beyond of Katsushika Ward that I imagine it will fit the bill.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2010

Pope in a secularized state

LONDON — On Sept. 19, Pope Benedict XVI completed a four-day state visit to Britain. This was the first state visit by a pope to a country that had abjured allegiance to the papacy nearly 500 years ago and had played an important role in the Protestant Reformation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2010

Donato Dozzy finds groove at Labyrinth

Italian DJ Donato Dozzy wowed disciples of dance music at The Labyrinth, a three-day dance-music festival, in Naeba, Niigata Prefecture, last weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2010

Band A to headline Fukuoka club crawl

Fukuoka recently ranked 14th in U.K. magazine Monocle's annual "Most Livable Cities Index." Alt-rock duo Band A are unsurprised their city fared so well.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 24, 2010

African pianist to jazz up Tokyo, Kyoto

Combining smooth jazz with elements of African style, Abdullah Ibrahim has drawn comparisons with musicians such as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The South African pianist will give jazz fans in Tokyo and Kyoto a taste of this combination when he returns to Japan on tour this week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 24, 2010

The 'plucky pioneer' of photojournalism

At 96, Tsuneko Sasamoto, Japan's first female photojournalist, remains a remarkable force of energy, creativity and inspiration. Dubbed a "plucky pioneer" and "the Annie Liebovitz of her day," Sasamoto has photographed some of Japan's greatest personalities and historical moments during her 70-year career....

Longform

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